IC-NRLF 


ESfi    137 


RULES  FOR 


PUNCTUATION 


•  i/  1 


A/Y 

* 


fff 


Division 
Range 

Shelf. 

Received 


,  1876 


GENERAL   RULES 


FOB 


PUNCTUATION 


AND   FOR   THE 


USE  OF  CAPITAL  LETTEES. 


Library* 


CAMBRIDGE: 

CHARLES     W.     SEVER, 

UNIVERSITY  BOOKSTORE. 

1875. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

A.    S.    HILL. 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Cambridge : 
Press  of  John  Wilson  6s  Son. 


Library. 


PUNCTUATION. 


GOOD  sense  determines  the  pauses  which  marks  of 
punctuation  indicate,  and  is,  therefore,  the  guide  to 
correct  punctuation. 

Since  punctuation  is  one  of  the  means  by  which 
a  writer  seeks  to  communicate  thoughts  or  feelings 
to  his  readers,  it  must  vary  with  thought  and  expres- 
sion :  Sterne's  punctuation  must  differ  from  that  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  and,  though  in  a  less  degree,  Burke's 
from  that  of  Macaulay.  Hence,  no  one  writer  — 
even  were  books  printed  correctly,  as  is  rarely  the 
case  —  can  be  taken  as  a  model.  Hence,  too,  a  com- 
plicated system  of  rules  loaded  with  exceptions, 
though  founded  upon  the  best  usage  and  framed 
with  the  greatest  care,  is  as  likely  to  fetter  thought 
as  to  aid  in  its  communication. 

Assistance  may,  however,  be  obtained  from  a  few 
simple  rules  illustrated  by  examples  :  but  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  these  rules,  elementary  as  they 
are,  may  be  violated,  in  order  to  avoid  ambiguity  or 
obscurity ;  for  the  purpose  of  every  point  is  to  indicate 
the  construction  of  the  sentence  in  which  it  occurs,  and 


4  GENERAL  KTJLES 

rules  and  examples  under  them  are  useful  only  in 
so  far  as  they  explain  and  illustrate  this  principle. 

Some  principles  are  common  to  speaking  or  oral 
reading  and  to  punctuation :  but  the  former  is  directed 
to  the  ear^  the  latter  to  the  eye ;  and  the  pauses 
required  by  the  ear  do  not  always  correspond  with 
the  stops  required  by  the  eye. 

I. 

Beware  of  using  the  comma,  the  dash,  or  any  one 
point,  exclusively  or  to  excess.  Every  stop  has  duties 
which  no  other  stop  can  perform. 

H. 

Never  put  a  mark  of  punctuation  between  two 
words  that  belong,  in  sense  and  in  construction,  to- 
gether, as  adjective  and  noun,  subject  and  verb : 
never  omit  a  point  between  two  words  that  do  not 
belong  together. 

III. 

Never  put  a  comma  [,]  before  or  after  and,  or,  or 
7U>r,when  employed  to  connect  two  words  belonging  to 
the  same  part  of  speech  (a),  or  two  expressions  used 
as  if  they  belonged  to  the  same  part  of  speech  (5). 

(a)  In  the  nature  of  things,  greatness  and  unify  go  together. 

(a)  Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  give  my 
hand  and  my  heart  to  this  vote. 

(6)  The  new  order  of  things  was  inducing  laxity  of  manners 
and  a  departure  from  the  ancient  strictness. 


FOR  PUNCTUATION.  5 

IV. 

Always  use  the  comma  when  there  are  more  than 
two  such  words  or  expressions,  even  though  and,  or, 
or  nor  is  retained  (a)  ;  or  when,  there  being  only 
two  such  words  or  expressions,  and,  or,  or  nor  is 
omitted  (5). 

(a)  It  is  the  centre  of  trade,  the  supreme  court  of.  fashion,  the 
umpire  of  rival  talents,  and  the  standard  of  things  rare  and 
precious. 

(b)  His  trees  extended  their  cool,  umbrageous  branches. 


V. 

Put  a  comma  between  two  words  or  phrases 
in  apposition  (a)  —  unless  used  as  a  compound 
name  or  a  single  phrase  (6)  —  or  in  contrast  (c) 
with  each  other.  Instead  of  a  comma,  a  dash  [ — ], 
alone  or  combined  with  other  stops,  is  sometimes 
used  (of). 

(a)  Above  all,  I  should  speak  of  Washington,  the  youthful 
Virginian  Colonel. 

(6)  On  the  seventeenth  of  November,  1558,  after  a  brief  but 
most  disastrous  reign,  Queen  Mary  died. 

(c)  While  others  yet  doubted,   they  were  resolved  ;  where 
others  hesitated,  they  pressed  forward. 

(d)  Morgarten  —  the  Thermopylae  of  Switzerland  —  lies  by  the 
little  lake  of  Egeri. 

(d)  The  two  principles  of  which  we  have  hitherto  spoken,  — 
Sacrifice  and  Truth. 


6  GENERAL  BULES 


VL 

Use  the  comma  between  two  clauses,  one  of  which 
depends  on  the  other  (a)  :  omit  the  comma,  however, 
if  the  clauses  are  intimately  connected  in  both  sense 
and  construction  (6). 

(a)  Though  herself  a  model  of  personal  beauty,  she  was  not 
the  goddess  of  beauty. 

(a)  Had  a  conflict  once  begun,  the  rage  of  their  persecutors 
would  have  redoubled. 

(a)  If  our  will  be  ready,  our  powers  are  not  deficient. 

(6)  He  roused  himself  from  his  reverie  as  they  approached 
the  side  of  his  bed. 

(6)  The  Board  may  hardly  be  reminded  that  the  power  of 
expending  any  portion  of  the  principal  of  our  Fund  expired  at 
the  end  of  two  years. 


vn. 

Separate  from  the  context  vocative  words  or  ex- 
pressions :  by  one  comma,  when  they  occur  at  the 
beginning  (a)  or  at  the  end  (#)  of  a  sentence ;  by 
two  commas,  when  they  occur  in  the  body  of  a  sen- 
tence (<?). 

(a)  Mark  Antony,  here,  take  you  Caesar's  body. 
(6)  What  would  you,  Desdemona  ? 

(c)  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  fellow-citizens*,  were  suc- 
cessively Presidents  of  the  United  States. 
(c)  I  remain,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 
(c)  No,  Sir,  I  thank  you. 


FOR  PUNCTUATION.  7 

VIII. 

Separate  from  the  context,  in  like  manner,  many 
adverbs  (a),  and,  usually,  adverbial  (5),  participial 
(c),  or  absolute  (d)  phrases,  when  they  modify  the 
sentence  as  a  whole  or  connect  it  with  another  sentence. 

(a)  The  pursuers,  too,  were  close  behind. 

(a)  Finally,  let  us  not  forget  the  religious  character  of  our 
origin. 

(6)  The  farmers  of  the  neighborhood  had  made  haste,  as  soon 
as  the  event  of  the  fight  was  known,  to  send  hogsheads  of  their 
best  cider  as  peace-oft'erings  to  the  victors. 

(c)  Without  attempting  a  formal  definition  of  the  word,  /am 
inclined  to  consider  rhetoric,  when  reduced  to  a  system  in  books, 
as  a  body  of  rules  derived  from  experience  and  observation,  ex- 
tending to  all  communication  by  language  and  designed  to  make 
it  efficient. 

(d)  To  make  a  long  story  short,  the  company  broke  up,  and 
returned  to  the  more  important  concerns  of  the  election. 

IX. 

Separate  from  the  context,  in  like  manner,  those 
relative  clauses  which  are  explanatory  or  supplemen- 
tary merely  (#)  ;  but,  generally  speaking,  not  those 
which  are  restrictive  or  determinative  (£).  (See 
Campbell's  Rhetoric,  p.  255.) 

(«)  At  five  in  the  morning  of  the  seventh,  Grey,  who  had 
wandered  from  his  friends,  was  seized  by  two  of  the  Sussex 
scouts. 

(6)  The  uproar,  the  blood,  the  gashes,  the  ghastly  figures 
which  sank  down  and  never  rose  again,  spread  horror  and  dis- 
may through  the  town. 

(b)  Those  inhabitants  who  had  favored  the  insurrection  ex- 
pected sack  and  massacre. 


8  GENERAL  RULES 

X. 

Separate  parenthetic  or  intermediate  expressions 
from  the  context,  by  commas  (a),  by  dashes  alone  (6) 
or  combined  with  other  stops  (<?),  or  by  parentheses 
[(  )]  00  •  The  last  are  less  used  now  than  formerly. 
The  dash  should  not  be  used  too  frequently,  but  is 
to  be  preferred  to  the  comma  when  the  use  of  the 
latter  would  cause  ambiguity  or  obscurity,  —  as 
when  the  sentence  contains  numerous  commas  (V). 

Brackets  [  ]  are  used  when  words  (not  the  author's) 
(/)  or  signs  (#)  are  inserted  in  a  sentence  to 
explain  the  meaning  or  to  supply  an  omission. 

(a)  The  difference,  therefore,  between  a  regiment  of  the  foot 
guards  and  a  regiment  of  clowns  just  enrolled,  though  doubtless 
considerable,  was  by  no  means  what  it  now  is. 

(a)  The  English  of  the  North,  or  Northumbrian,  has  be- 
queathed to  us  few  monuments. 

(&),  (a)  It  will  —  7  am  sure  it  will  —  more  and  more,  as  time 
goes  on,  be  found  good  for  this. 

(c)  When  he  was  in  a  rage,  —  and  he  very  often  was  in  a 
rage,  —  he  swore  like  a  porter. 

(d)  Circumstances    (which    with    some    gentlemen   pass   for 
nothing}  give  in   reality  to  every  political  principle  its  distin- 
guishing color  and  discriminating  effect. 

(e),  (a)  In  the  insurrection  of  provinces,  either  distant  or 
separated  by  natural  boundaries,  —  more  especially  if  the  inhabi- 
tants, differing  in  religion  and  language,  are  rather  subjects 
of  the  same  government  than  portions  of  the  same  people,  — 
hostilities  which  are  waged  only  to  sever  a  legal  tie  may  assume 
the  regularity,  and  in  some  measure  the  mildness,  of  foreign  war. 

(/)  The  chairman  of  our  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations 
[A/r.  Eppes~\,  at  the  time  he  introduced  these  amendments  to  the 
House,  exhibited  the  true  character  of  this  policy. 

(</)  See  brackets  enclosing  the  parenthetic  sign  in  X. ,  line  4. 


Av 

FOR   PUNCTUATION.       f,)/J}*ff    9 

**f  !  JS^ 

The  dash,  alone  or  combined  with  other  stops, 
should  be  used  where  the  construction  or  the  sense 
is  suddenly  changed  or  suspended  (a)  ;  where  a  long 
or  significant  pause  is  desired  (5) ;  where  a  thought 
or  a  word  is  repeated  for  emphasis  (<?) ;  in  rapid 
narration  (cT) ;  where  an  ellipsis  occurs  of  namely, 
that  is,  and  the  like  (e),  or  an  omission  of  words, 
letters,  or  figures  (/)  ;  and  between  a  title  and  the 
subject-matter  (#),  or  the  subject-matter  and  the 
authority  for  it  Qi),  when  both  are  in  the  same 
paragraph. 

(a)  The  only  consequence  will  be  that  the  contest,  instead  of 
being  undertaken  while  we  have  strength  to  support  it,  will  be 
reserved  not  for  our  posterity,  but  to  a  time  when  we  ourselves 
shall  have  surrendered  all  our  arms  to  the  people  with  whom 
we  are  to  contend*  —  nor  will  that  period  be  distant. 

(a)  The  man,  — it  is  his  system  :  we  do  not  try  a  solitary 
word  or  act,  but  his  habit. 

(a)  Rome,  —  what  was  Rome? 

(a)  To  let  loose  hussars  and  to  bring  up  artillery,  to  govern 
with  lighted  matches,  and  to  cut,  and  push,  and  prime  —  /  call 
this,  not  vigor,  but  the  sloth  of  cruelty  and  ignorance. 

(a)  Great  honor  to  the  Fire-flies  !    But— — !  — 

(i)  He  thought  his  whistle  was  answered  —  it  was  but  a  blast 
sweeping  sharply  through  the  dry  branches. 

(b)  My  faithful  slave  is  murdered,  and  my  goods  taken  for 
a  prey  —  and  Wamba  —  where  is  Wamba  ? 

(6)  "Long,  long  will  I  remember  your  features,  and  bless 
G3d  that  I  leave  my  noble  deliverer  united  with  "  — 
She  stopped  short. 

*  Some  would  put  a  semicolon  before  the  dash. 


10  GENERAL  KULES 

(c)  I  cannot  forget  that  we  are  men  by  a  more  sacred  bond 
than  we  are  citizens,  —  that  we  are  children  of  a  common  Father 
more  than  we  are  Americans. 

(c)  What  shall  become  of  the  poor,  —  the  increasing  Stand- 
ing Army  of  the  poor? 

(d)  Hollo!   ho!  the  whole  world's  asleep!  —  bring  out  the 
horses,  —  grease  the   wheels,  —  tie  on  the   mail;    and  drive   a 
nail  into  that  moulding,  —  /'//  not  lose  a  moment. 

(e)  This  deplorable  scene  admits  of  but  one  addition,  —  that 
we  are  governed  by  councils  from  which  a  reasonable  man  can 
expect  no  remedy  but  poison,  no  relief  but  death. 

(/)  In  the  first  place,  I  presume,  you  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  breaking  your  word  with  Mrs.  C y. 

(/)  1874—75. 

(#),  (li)  Did-na. —  The  usual  pronunciation  is  Di-dn-a. — 
SMART. 

XII. 

Beware  of  using  either  commas  or  periods  in  the 
place  of  semicolons  [  ;  ]  and  colons  [  :  ] .  Long 
sentences  broken  only  by  commas  are  obscure ; 
numerous  short  sentences  separated  by  periods  con- 
vey thought  vaguely  and  in  fragments  :  by  either 
extreme,  eye  and  mind  are  fatigued. 


XIII. 

Use  the  semicolon  or,  very  rarely,  the  colon  be- 
tween clauses,  each  of  which  is  subdivided  ly  a  num- 
ber of  commas  (a). 

(a)  Death  is  there  associated,  not,  as  in  Westminster  Abbey 
and  Saint  Paul's,  with  genius  and  virtue,  with  public  veneration 


FOR  PUNCTUATION.   *  11 

and  with  imperishable  renown ;  not,  as  in  our  humblest  churches 
and  churchyards,  with  every  thing  that  is  most  endearing  in 
social  and  domestic  charities  ;  but  with  whatever  is  darkest  in 
human  nature  and  in  human  destiny. 


XIV. 

Use  the  semicolon  (a)  or,  less  frequently,  the 
colon  (5)  between  two  clauses,  of  which  one  is  con- 
nected with  the  other  by  a  conjunction,  such  as  for, 
but,  and,  or  yet. 

(a)  See  last  clause  of  Example  (a) ,  XIII. 

.  (a)  The  very  idea  of  purity  and  disinterestedness  in  politics 
lalls  into  disrepute,  and  is  considered  as  a  vision  of  hot  and 
inexperienced  men;  and  thus  disorders  become  incurable,  not 
by  the  virulence  of  their  own  quality,  but  by  the  unapt  and 
violent  nature  of  their  remedies. 

(b)  This  scheme  was,  perhaps,  the  best  that  could  then  be 
contrived:   but  it  was  completely  disconcerted  by  the  course 
which  the  civil  war  took. 

(6),  (a)  Ayrshire  was  Cochrane's  object:  but  the  coast  of  Ayr- 
shire was  now  guarded  by  English  frigates;  and  the  adventurers 
were  under  the  necessity  of  running  up  the  estuary  of  the 
Clyde  to  Greenock. 

In  the  last  example  the  distinction  between  the 
colon  and  the  semicolon  is  skilfully  observed.  The 
connection  of  thought  between  the  first  clause  and 
the  second  is  less  close  than  that  between  the  second 
and  the  third ;  a  fact  which  is  indicated  by  the  use 
of  the  colon  in  the  first  case,  and  of  the  semicolon 
in  the  second  case. 


12  *      GENERAL  RULES 

XV. 

Where  for,  but,  and,  or  yet  is  omitted,  the  colon  i3 
usually  to  be  preferred  to  the  semicolon  (a). 

(a)  The  Presbyterians  were  interdicted  from  worshipping 
God  anywhere  but  in  private  dwellings :  they  were  not  to  pre- 
sume to  build  meeting-A0M.<?<?s :  they  were  not  even  to  use  a 
barn  or  an  outhouse  for  religious  exercises. 


XVI. 

Use  semicolons  between  clauses  in  a  series,  having 
a  common  dependence  upon  a  proposition  at  the  begin- 
ning or  at  the  end  of  a  sentence  (a). 

(a)  You  could  give  us  no  commission  to  wrong  or  oppress, 
or  even  to  suffer  any  kind  of  oppression  or  wrong,  on 
any  grounds  whatsoever :  not  on  political,  as  in  the  affairs  of 
America;  not  on  commercial,  as  in  those  of  Ireland;  not  in 
civil,  as  in  the  laws  for  debt ;  not  in  religious,  as  in  the  statutes 
against  Protestant  or  Catholic  dissenters. 

(a)  The  ground  strowed  with  the  dead  and  the  dying;  the 
impetuous  charge  ;  the  steady  and  successful  repulse ;  the  loud 
call  to  repeated  assault ;  the  summoning  of  all  that  is  manly  to 
repeated  resistance ;  a  thousand  bosoms  freely  and  fearlessly 
bared  in  an  inst?nt  to  whatever  of  terror  there  may  bo  in  war 
and  death;  —  all  these  you  have  witnessed,  but  you  witness 
them  no  more. 

(a)  They  forget  that,  in  England,  not  one  shilling  of  paper- 
money  of  any  description  is  received  but  of  choice;  that  the 
whole  has  had  its  origin  in  cash  actually  deposited  ;  and  that  it 
is  convertible,  at  pleasure,  in  an  instant,  and  without  the 
smallest  loss,  into  cash  again. 


FOR  PUNCTUATION.  13 

XVII. 

Use  colons  between  two  members  of  a  sentence, 
each  of  which  is  composed  of  two  or  more  clauses 
separated  by  semicolons  (a). 

(a)  Early  reformations  are  amicable  arrangements  with  a 
friend  in  power  ;  late  reformations  are  terms  imposed  upon  a 
conquered  enemy :  early  reformations  are  made  in  cool  blood  ; 
late  reformations  are  made  under  a  state  of  inflammation. 


XVIII. 

Use  semicolons  (a)  or  colons  (5)  —  choosing  the 
one  or  the  other,  according  as  the  connection  of 
thought  is  more  or  less  close  —  to  connect  in  form 
successive  short  sentences  which  are,  though  but 
slightly,  connected  in  sense  or  in  construction. 

(a)  Such  was  our  situation  :    and  such  a  satisfaction  was 
necessary  to  prevent  recourse  to  arms ;  it  was  necessary  toward 
laying  them  down ;  it  will  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  taking 
them  up  again  and  again. 

(b)  We  are  seldom  tiresome  to  ourselves  ;   and  the  act  of 
composition  fills  and  delights  the  mind  with  change  of  language 
and  succession  of  images :  every  couplet  when  produced  is  new  ; 
and  novelty  is  the  great  source  of  pleasure. 

(6)  The  two  qualities,  however,  are  by  no  means  undistin- 
guislidble :  a  metaphor,  for  instance,  may  be  apt  and  striking, 
and  consequently  conducive  to  energy  of  expression,  even  though 
the  new  image,  introduced  by  it,  have  no  intrinsic  beauty. 

(I)}  Very  few  faults  of  architecture  are  mistakes  of  honest 
choice:  they  are  almost  all  hypocrisies. 


14  GENERAL  RULES 

XIX. 

The  colon  is  used  before  particulars  formally 
stated  (a)  ;  the  colon  (5),  the  comma  (c),  or  the 
dash  (cT),  before  quotations  indicated  by  marks  of 
quotation  ["  "].  If  the  quotation  depend  directly 
on  a  preceding  word,  no  stop  is  required  (Y). 

(a)  So,  then,  these  are  the  two  virtues  of  'building:  frst,  the 
signs  of  man's  own  good  work  ;  secondly,  the  expression  of 
man's  delight  in  work  better  than  his  own. 

(a)  The  government  possesses  three  different  classes  of 
powers :  1st,  Those  necessary  to  enable  it  to  accomplish  all  the 
declared  objects  ;  2d,  Those  specially  devolved  on  the  nation 
at  large ;  3d.  Those  specially  delegated. 

(6)  Toward  the  end  of  your  letter,  you  are  pleased  to  observe: 
"  The  rejection  of  a  treaty,  duly  negotiated,  is  a  serious  ques- 
tion, to  be  avoided  whenever  it  can  be  without  too  great  a 
sacrifice." 

(c)  When  the  repast  was  about  to  commence,  the  major- 
domo,  or  steward,  suddenly  raising  his  wand,  said  aloud,  "  For- 
bear!—  Place  for  the  Lady  Rowena." 

(d)  He  went  towards  William  Dane  and  said,  in  a  voice 
shaken  by  agitation,  — 

"  The  last  time  I  remember  using  my  knife  was  when  I  took 
it  out  to  cut  a  strap  for  you." 

(d)  The  trumpets  then  again  flourished,  and  a  herald,  step- 
ping forward,  proclaimed  aloud,  —  "  Oyez,  oyez,  oyez." 

(e)  The  common  people  raised  the  cry  of  "  Down  with  the 
bishops." 

(e)  their  Saxon  title  of  honor,  which  signifies  "Di- 
viders of  Bread." 

(e)  You  pass  one  of  the  much  vaunted  "  villas  on  the 
Brenta." 

(e)  It  declares  that  "  war  exists  by  the  act  of  Mexico." 


FOR   PUNCTUATION.  15 

XX. 

At  the  end  of  every  complete  sentence  put  a 
period  [.],  if  the  sentence  affirms  or  denies;  an  in- 
terrogation point  [?],  if  the  sentence  asks  a  direct 
question;  and  an  exclamation  point  [I],  if  the  sen- 
tence expresses  emotion  or  wonder.  Interrogation 
or  exclamation  points  are  also  used  in  the  body  of  a 
sentence,  when  two  or  more  interrogations  (a)  or 
exclamations  (5)  are  closely  connected  together. 

(a)  For  what  is  a  body,  but  an  aggregate  of  individuals'! 
and  what  new  right  can  be  conveyed  by  a  mere  change  of 
name? 

(6)  How  he  could  trot !  how  he  could  runl 

XXL 

Periods  are  used  after  abbreviations  (a),  after 
headings  and  sub-headings  (5),  and  before  decimals 
(<?).  In  this  last  case,  the  period  is,  in  English 
(and  some  American)  books,  put  above  the  line  (d). 
Commas  are  used  before  every  three  figures  (counted 
from  the  right),  when  there  are  more  than  four  (e), 
except  in  dates  (/). 

(a)  If  gold  were  depreciated  one-half,  31.  would  be  worth 
no  more  than  11.  10s.  is  now. 

(a)  To  retain  such  a  lump  in  such  an  orbit  requires  a  pull 
of  1  Ib.  6  oz.  51  grs. 

(6)  84*.     Omission  of  Thou. 

(c)  This  gives  11.93  Ibs.  of  ice-cold  water  made  to  boil  with 
1  Ib.  of  the  fuel. 


16     GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PUNCTUATION. 

(d)  On  the  system  of  equal  temperament,  if  C  is  denoted  by 
1,  E  is  denoted  by  1-25992,  and  G  by  1-49831. 

(/)»  (e)  The  amount  of  stock  issued  by  the  several  States, 
for  each  period  of  five  years  since  1820,  is  as  follows,  viz.  :  — 

From  1820-1825  somewhat  over  $12,000,000. 
„     1825-1830        „  „        13,000,000. 

„     1830^1835        „  „       40,000,000. 

„     1835-1840        „  „      109,000,000. 


XXII. 

The  apostrophe  [']  is  used  to  denote  the  elision  of 
a  letter  or  letters  (a),  or  of  a  figure  or  figures  (  b  )  ; 
and  to  distinguish  the  possessive  case  (c). 

(a)  '  Tis  James  of  Douglas,  by  Saint  Serle ! 

(6)  Since  that  tune  it  has  been  re-observed  on  every  subse- 
quent revolution,  in  '££,  '£5,  and  is  always  announced  in  the 
almanacs  as  a  regular  member  of  our  system. 

(c)  Spenser's  adulation  of  her  beauty  (at  some  fifty  or  sixty 
years  of  age)  may  be  extenuated. 

(c)  The  Seven  Fears'  war  was  carried  on  in  America. 

XXIII. 

The  hyphen  [-]  is  used  to  join  the  constituent  parts 
of  compound  (a)  words ;  and  to  divide  words,  as  at 
the  end  of  a  line  (6).  The  division  at  the  end  of  a 
line  should  always  be  by  syllables. 

(a)  The  incense-breathing  morn. 

(a)  He  wears  a  broad-brimmed,  low-crowned  hat. 

(b)  See  under  XIX.,  in  (7>)  (/ues-tion,  in  (c)  For-bear,  in  (d) 
step-piny,  in  (e)  Di-viders,  and  various  other  words,  supra. 


CAPITAL  LETTERS 


Every  sentence  opening  a  paragraph  or  following 
a  period  should  begin  with  a  CAPITAL  letter. 


IL 

Every  direct  quotation,  formally  introduced,  should 
begin  with  a  capital  letter  (#). 

(a)  See  (&),  (c),  (d),  under  XIX.,  p.  14._ 


III. 

Capital  letters  should  begin  every  word  which  is, 
or  is  used  as,  a  name.  We  should  write  England,  not 
england ;  the  North  American  Indian,  not  the  north 
american  indian;  Shylock,  not  shylock;  the  White 
Star  Line,  not  the  white  star  line  ;  the  Bible,  not  the 
bible.  We  should  distinguish  between  the  popes  and 


18  CAPITAL  LETTERS. 

Pope  Pius  Ninth  ;  between  the  constitution  of  society 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  between 
the  reformation  of  a  man's  character  and  the  Reforma- 
tion of  Luther ;  between  a  revolution  in  politics  and 
the  Revolution  of  1688 ;  between  republican  princi- 
ples and  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party: 
the  foundation  of  the  distinction 'in  each  case  being 
that  a  word,  when  used  as  a  name,  should  begin  with 
a  capital  letter.  Good  authors  do  not  uniformly 
follow  this  rule  ;  but  the  cause  of  most  departures 
from  it  is,  probably,  to  be  sought  in  their  own  or 
their  printers'  inadvertence,  rather  than  in  their  in- 
tention to  ignore  a  useful  principle,  or  to  create  need- 
less exceptions  to  it. 


IV. 

Capital  letters  exclusively  are  used  in  titles  of 
books:  they  are  used  more  freely  in  prefaces  or 
introductions  than  in  the  body  of  the  work ;  and 
they  may  be  used  in  order  to  emphasize  words  of 
primary  importance.  For  purposes  of  emphasis, 
they  should,  however,  be  used  with  great  caution: 
to  insist  too  frequently  upon  emphasis  is  to  defeat 
its  object. 


CAPITAL  LETTERS.  19 

V. 

Phrases   or  clauses,   when    separately  numbered, 
should  each  begin  with  a  capital  letter  (a). 

(a)  These  are  usually  called  — 

1.  Simple  apprehension. 

2.  Judgment. 

3.  Reasoning  or  discourse. 

VI. 

I  and  O  —  not  oh  —  should  always  be  written  as 
capital  letters. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

O.V 


MAR    5   1943 

18Fe'59WJ 

IN  STACKS 


SENT  ON  ILL 

APR  1  5  1997 

U.  C.  BERKELEY 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


